Was she baiting me? It sounded like she was baiting me.
And I bit, because I wanted to get it off my chest.
“You know I hate anything that remotely has to do with math,” I said, groaning. “Those subjects are Mamá and Papá’s grand plan, not mine. I somehow have to tell them that I want to double major in international affairs and music, then minor in history.”
Grace looked a little taken aback.Well, all right,I suspected she was thinking.So maybe it does matter to her if ochlocracy is on the upswing….
But I wasn’t finished yet. “The point is that I missed something important. I missed something important for this.” I gestured around us—not at the racks of clothes, but to our big-city waste of time.
“For this?” Grace asked, giving me an irked look. “Isa, that hurts. What have you seen today?”
“Nothing extraordinary,” I mumbled.
“Nothing extraordinary?” Grace sputtered. “What do you mean?Everythinghas been extraordinary!” She blinked, moments flickering through her mind. “We signed the Declaration of Independence, saw priceless works of art, went to a fancy French restaurant, ate the best cheesesteak in Philly, and things with Ev arefinallyback to the way they shouldbe….”
She trailed off when we made eye contact.
I might’ve been glaring at her.
“Aren’t they?” she asked tentatively. “Now that Ev’s apologized, aren’t things between you two good again?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re not going to forgive him?”
And here we finally are,I thought.The heart of it all.
No matter how much I wanted to avoid this Deep Meaningful Conversation, I couldn’t. We had to have it.
I reached to touch a tulle dress, ivory with light green trim. “I didn’t say that,” I replied, even though Everett deserved my forgiveness andthensome. He’d been too easy on me. I hadn’t been there for him; no matter what, I should’vebeen there forhim.
The problem was I hadn’t known how, and when I’d tried later, he had been too far gone.
“I need to ask you something,” I told Grace as guilt gnawed in my stomach. “I don’t want to pressure you, G, but I have to know the truth.” I adjusted my one-size-didn’t-fit-all fedora. “Everett has feelings for you. Do you—”
“Yes,” she said with a wince, like this had been hurting her for ages. “I like him.”
A lump rose in my throat, remembering eighth grade—pulling her into the bathroom to confess my crush on Everett. Had she liked him even then? She’d been so supportive before and after he and I dated. She was the best friend in the world.
“I’ve always liked him,” she admitted, reading my mind. “But I was so excited for you, Isa. You and Ev were my closest friends. If being with each other made you happy, how could I not want you to be together?”
“Because you love him,” I distantly heard myself say, too focused on the scenes and signs stitching themselves together in my head. Babysitting Ev’s sisters together? Having the time of their lives at family game nights? And their body language and long looks at the art museum earlier? Grace playfully kissing Everett on the cheek? Ha! Shame on me for noticing nothing until then—or, to be honest, noticingeverythingbut not painting the whole picture.
Grace neither confirmed nor denied. It was like she was saving those three words for Everett. Which, for some reason, opened the floodgates.
“And that,” I whispered, “is the root of our problem.”
“Problem?” she asked, her bewildered tone making my heart twinge. “What problem?”
“Everett,” I said. “Howcould you not tell me about him? We’re supposed to tell each other everything! I feel like an idiot for thinking you two were just friends.”
I was a hypocrite and I didn’t care. Not only was I upset with Grace, but I was so upset with myself for putting off James that I was about to take it out on her.
Grace opened her mouth, then shut it. “I thought it was allin my head,” she eventually said. “Until today, I never thought Ev felt that way about me. He and I arefriends,Isa. We hang out with his sisters, we do homework, or we watch TV.” She paused. “Nothing has ever happened, I swear. Even if I’d known how he felt, nothing would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care if anything’s happened, Grace! I really don’t. I’m over Everett Adler.”
“You don’t act like it!”
Her words felt like a punch to the gut.Wait, what?
“I didn’t tell you about Everett because I can’t tell whether you’re holding a grudge, or if you are really and truly still heartbroken over everything.” Tears swam in her eyes. “Would you have let me talk you into blowing off classes today if you’d known he was part of the package?”
